“Can he come to see me sometime?”
“No.”
“Didn’t he like me when I got borned?”
“He wasn’t there. Just me. And I loved you enough for ten people. A hundred.” By then he had reached an age where hugs were unwelcome, but he had let her hold him in her arms for a long time that night.
There had come a time when he dealt with the problem in his own way, sometimes deviously. It got back to Jade that Graham was spinning tales about a father who died while saving a baby from a burning building.
“Why did you say that, Graham?” She posed the question gently, not as a reprimand.
He shrugged. He was pouty, but his eyes were shimmering with tears he was too manly to shed, having just turned ten
“Do the kids at school tease you about not having a father?”
“Sometimes.”
Her hopes that Graham wouldn’t feel short-changed had been unrealistic. Having only one parent made a difference. Much of her youth had been spent in a single-parent home, but during her formative childhood years her father had been there. After his death, she had photographs and memories of him to sustain her. She had never forgotten their quiet talks together, his warm, encompassing hugs, his goodnight kisses, or his whispering to her, “Don’t ever be afraid, Jade.”
Telling Graham the truth wasn’t an option she considered. If he knew that he was the result of a rape, he would likely blame himself for living. She refused to lay that kind of guilt on her child, recalling the cruel responsibility Velta had placed on her the last time she’d seen her.
Cathy disagreed. Every time Graham raised the topic of his father, she urged Jade to tell him, but to no avail. The stigma of not having a father was bad enough, without his knowing the rest. To help ease his conflict, she had given him permission to lie. “I hate lies, Graham. You know that. Sometimes, though, I think they’re okay, if they’re told to protect someone else and not oneself.
“So, when your friends ask you about your father, you can protect them from being embarrassed by simply saying that he died. I give you my permission to say just that—he died before you were born. Okay?”
Evidently it had been okay, because Graham had never broached the subject again. He had reached a level of maturity where he could work it out for himself. Thinking about how quickly the years were passing made Jade’s heart wrench with homesickness for him. She couldn’t wait till June, when he would join her in Palmetto.
“You’ve drawn quite a crowd.”
Jade snapped out of her reverie and turned her head in response to the low voice near her ear. Dillon sat down in the vacant chair beside hers. “Good morning, Dillon. You look very handsome.”
“Thanks,” he replied self-consciously.
He was wearing a new suit for the occasion, and his hair had been trimmed.
She had dressed with utmost care herself. There would be old-timers in the crowd who remembered the scandal she had created when she left. Most were merely curious about Palmetto’s new industry. Either way, she was going to be the focal point of everyone’s attention today. She wanted to dazzle them.
“I drove out to your trailer last night, but you weren’t there,” she told Dillon.
“Sorry I missed you.”
“It looked as though you’re settled in.”
“There wasn’t much to settle. I’m ready to get to work.”
“I didn’t know you had a dog.”
“Dog?”
“There was a dog lying on the top step of the trailer.”
“Oh, him,” he said, frowning. “He showed up a few days ago, and I made the mistake of feeding him a few table scraps.”
Tilting her head, she smiled teasingly. “And now he’s adopted you?”
“Not for long. I’m going to take him to the pound the first chance I get.”
“After his leg heals, you mean. That looked like a home-made bandage,” she said, her goading grin still in place.